Ela Ada – Steamed Rice Cakes with Coconut Jaggery Filling

Eid-ul-Adha is another major festival in Islam. It comes a day after the annual pilgrimage of Hajj is completed. This Eid mainly commemorates the sacrifices of Prophet Ibrahim (AS) and Prophet Ismail (AS), they undertook for Allah. While this Eid is also celebrated in the same way as Eid-ul-Fitr, the only difference is the sacrifice of an animal in the name of Allah, by all who can afford to do so. The day before Eid, while the people attending Hajj meet up at the mount of Arafa, all other Muslims fast from dawn to dusk. For more information on this Eid and the traditions, you can refer here.

For the post that I did prior to Eid-u-Fitr, I had expressed in so much detail how our Eid in Dubai used to be. It would be the same for this Eid as well. In that post, I had mentioned that there is a specialty called Ada that we normally make every Eid. Last Eid, I made it a point that I stood with umma, took down the recipe by hand and took a few clicks here and there for my reference. This Eid, I am making it a point to share it with all of you. For us, Eid is not complete with the morning breakfast of this ada and chicken cutlets. I will share my recipe for the cutlets hopefully very soon. I do want to continue this tradition as much as it will be possible by me in the future, even if my umma goes back for good. Some traditions, that we need to close a bit close to our hearts so that we have something to tell our kids as well…

Makes around 30 adas

You will see me out of action on my blog for the next three days, mainly because it is public holidays over here, which means I will be at home with the family cooking, applying henna, having fun being with my relatives, etc. Even once the holidays are over, I may go a bit slow, thanks to a tightly packed personal schedule till the end of this month. But then, I guess I cannot stay away from my blog baby for too long so I will keep peeping in here and there. If I am not able to visit your blogs, please do bear with me, as I will miss all the action happening at your places as well. Do keep visiting and coming over to leave your wonderful comments… Enjoy!!! 🙂

Drain and grind with little water, along with shallots, fennel seeds and salt to a thick mixture. Pour into a large mixing bowl and leave to set for an hour.

Now add a cup of rice flour and mix with your hand to get a pliable dough. If it is too runny, add the remaining rice flour and mix again. The dough should be soft, non-sticky and very easy to handle. Set aside.

In a saucepan, melt the jaggery. Add in the coconut, shallots and fennel powder and mix well. Cook for a few minutes till the mixture gets well incorporated. Allow to cool.

To make the adas, take a ball of dough, big enough that is normally used for chappathi.

Spread it on the leaf till you have covered the leaf. Ensure that the spread is not thick, otherwise the adas wouldn't taste good.

Spoon in some of the coconut mixture just enough to fit in, do not over stuff. Close the sides and nice press the edges to seal. Repeat with till all the leaves are done.

Steam the ela adas in your idli steamer or a big vessel for 15-20 minutes. The time to stop would be when you can easily peel off the leaf from the ada, it would come out neatly without leaving any stains on the ada.

Spread the adas on your countertop and allow to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

Favourite of all at home(except me), badam leaves sounds interesting, we always make it only in the plantain leaves and mostly only the sweet version with coconut, jaggery, banana and cardamom. This is slightly different, will try it:)